> Luke 8:27 starts out:
>
> EXELQONTI DE AUTWi EPI THN GHN hUPHNTHSEN ANHR . . .
>
> I was tempted at first to call EXELQONTI DE AUTWi EPI THN GHN a dative
> absolute, but I discovered that no one agreed with me on this so I set
> about to try and figure out why not.
>
> I think perhaps the answer is connected with the absence of an object
> for hUPHNTHSEN. But I find AUTWi rather an unlikely candidate for the
> role of object since it is clearly tied to the participle by the case
> ending. If AUTWi is the object of hUPHNTHSEN then the participle
> construction would not be absolute.
>
> There must be a perfectly obvious answer to this which I am overlooking.
> What is it?
>

A quick glance at Matt 8:28 seems to settle this issue. In that context
AUTWi is the object of hUPHNTHSAN. So it would appear that AUTWi in Luke
8:27 is doing double duty. I know someone is going to say that this is a
perfectly normal way to do things in Attic Greek but it still causes me
to stop and ponder when I run into it in the NT.